Aleph Records release Lalo Schifrin's score for Bruce Lee's final movie, 1973's Enter the Dragon. Recruited by an intelligence agency, outstanding martial arts student Bruce Lee participates in a brutal karate tournament hosted by the evil Han. Along with champions Roper and Williams, he uncovers Han's white slavery and drug trafficking ring located on a secret island fortress. In the exciting climax, hundreds of freed prisoners fight in an epic battle with Lee and Han locked in a deadly duel...

For fans of Enter the Dragon and Lalo Schifrin, the release of this score will be a like discovering a long lost classic, as it includes a lot of material that has never been made available to the public before. The score contains 18 tracks (59 min, 24 sec), compared to the original 1973 Warner Bros., label release which was comprised of 10 tracks (37 min, 13 sec). In addition the original running order of the tracks is somewhat juggled around.

Lalo Schifrin was well known at the time for his jazz-based scores. For those not familiar with his style, this album, in places, sounds very similar to John Barry's early James Bond scores.

'Theme From Enter The Dragon' is, surprisingly, an oddity on the score. It mixes Eastern-themed sounds, mixed with wah guitar, a funk backbeat and Bruce Lee's battle cry. It's opening beats brings to mind the sort of cop show TV themes of the day.

The rest of the album offers up Eastern-sounding themes as well as jazz-infused themes. It's a mix that works incredibly well.

Fans of the original will want to pick this up for the extra tracks, but Schifrin followers and fans of Barry's early Bond scores will also get a kick out of this score. Sure, it's a product of its time, but a lot of the themes still hold up well today.

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Darren Rea